1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to smoke evacuator systems and methods therefor and, in particular, to an automatic smoke evacuator activator system for a surgical laser apparatus and method therefor which is designed such that the smoke evacuator is automatically activated when the laser cutting beam of a surgical laser apparatus is turned on and automatically deactivated, at a selected period in time, after the laser cutting beam of the surgical laser apparatus is turned off.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, a surgical laser apparatus utilized a smoke evacuator system which was manually turned on and off, but was generally continuously operating during a surgical laser procedure. A smoke evacuator system functioned as part of a surgical laser apparatus. The smoke evacuator systems of many surgical laser apparatus produced a constant noise during its use or operation, used a high amount of electrical energy, and the continuous air pressure on the filter element of the smoke evacuator systems of the surgical laser apparatus usually saturated or overloaded the system's filter element and thereby allowed the toxic fumes which were supposed to be evacuated from the surgical area to escape uncontrolled into the medical operating room rather than being vented outside which was supposed to be the function of the smoke evacuator system.
Therefore, it would be a great benefit to the surgeon and operating room staff if the smoke evacuator system of the surgical laser apparatus was only activated during the time the laser cutting beam of the surgical laser apparatus was in use. For safety purposes, the FDA does not allow any device to be in electrical contact with the control circuitry of the surgical laser. For this reason, normally the smoke evacuator system of the laser surgical apparatus was manually switched on at the beginning of the surgical procedure, left on during the entire surgical procedure and then switched off at the conclusion thereof. However, the critical time period for the use of the smoke evacuator system of the laser surgical apparatus was during the period of time that the laser cutting beam of the laser surgical apparatus was in operation. Therefore, a need existed for a smoke evacuator system of a laser surgical apparatus which would sense and turn on at the initiation or start of the laser cutting beam function of the surgical laser apparatus and then turn off shortly after termination of the laser cutting beam function so that the smoke evacuation system would be limited in its function and operation to the most critical time period for the function of the laser surgical apparatus and thereby automatically operated in response to the production of smoke that would be generated by the laser cutting beam of the laser surgical apparatus.